


But I still want you to be there

by jacintoo



Category: Smallville
Genre: Gunshot Wounds, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-11
Updated: 2017-06-11
Packaged: 2018-11-12 19:38:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11168718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jacintoo/pseuds/jacintoo
Summary: When Lex falls into a trap of his father, Clark saves him and helps him to get out.





	But I still want you to be there

"Would you mind turn off the radio? No need to hear it once again." Lex demands his chauffeur.

The morning news is reporting the funeral of Lionel Luthor yesterday, where and when he was buried. For Lex, it's a sign of a period of his nightmares with his father and a refresh for what he is going today.

"Yes, sir." The chauffeur turns off the radio. "It's a good day, Mr Luthor."

Lex winces at the sun, "A good start at least."

But not exactly. Because sunshine in spring is too weak to warm his heart yet. He still can't forget the eyes of Clark in the funeral that day, the eyes that had no concerns of any personal feelings of Lex, he believes so. If there was any, it was his suspicion of Lex murdering his father. He had a little hope when standing there though, hoping that Clark didn't come at all, so that he didn't have to walk past through him in that awkward moment. He swallowed this hope when he saw Clark there. Their eyes never met. He has sworn to himself that he would never give any chances of reconciliation for Clark. But when he sat down in calm on the other day, he regretted this action, he knew that it was already too late to do so. It's not that bad to shut this relationship completely off, now that he thinks. It reminds him somehow, that he shouldn't spend time on dealing with him anymore, which might be a good thing for him. I just needs more time to forget, and now he has it.

And after a tour of Smallville for a few hours, they arrive at the reclusive factory far from his manor. It is a research factory that he had never heard of or read from any of the sources he had. Until one day in the morning when he was having a cup of Italian coffee, totally fortuitous, that he noticed it on the list of property of his father. It was probably there since he was a kid, strange to him that he never noticed. After his father died, this place's address saluted him and urged to get his attention. He had a huge interest in it ever since he knew the existence of this factory. A very reliable source told him that there was tons of materials and complex mechanism detected.

He stands in front of the building and examines it. The outline of the facility doesn't seem to surprise Lex too much, he would expect it to become much bigger, however it is just a small, not so enticing warehouse, some of the walls are even weathered. Maybe the inside is bigger than the outside, he walks in and stops his steps at a door filled with mechanical number pad. Making sure that nobody is following him, he presses the digits that revealed by his remote hacking tool one by one. After he pushes the last digit, it completes the session of 8 digits of his birthday, the door opens.

 

"If that's your way to demoralize me, sorry father, it doesn't work."

 

However, inside is equally disappointing. It is just dark, dusty and damp at the same time. A big electric fan stagnates and a path to the noir at the first floor, nothing else. It looks really nothing like something that his father could hide from him for decades. Accompanied with the water drops from the gutter somewhere not too far, he marches and stumbles a body with uniform covered by dusts. He bends down and examines this body. Body still fresh, and no wounds. The logo of LuthorCorp is marked on his uniform when he wipes the dirty water off it. A few steps further, he finds several similar bodies piling on the floor. How come this place is filled with deaths? What happened here? He tries to switch the light on, and nothing functions. Should this small and bland visit be terminated so soon? No, Lex disagrees. it's still too early to quit. He walks to every corner of the room and knocks every brick on the war, three times. A crisp and light sound of metal on the ground echoes which he stumbles upon some bulge on the ground. He carefully bends down and examines in details what is below his shoes. A manhole? As he opens the cover, with the help of the light from his cellphone, it shows a steel ladder leading to an endless cavern.

 

"Ah, isn't it too easy? Now let's see what's hidden there." He steps in.

 

Too deep that he forgets how many steps before he landed on the ladder. A corridor guides his path ahead. Still without lights, he finds the map on one side of the wall as his light of the cellphone swaps on it. One operation room for the central control, and next to which is one warehouse for all the ingredients and materials, then one laboratory, one data room, on the opposite side, several bedrooms and a salon as it's written as "the safe room".

Lex touches his chin, "Let me guess, which room I shall enter first?"

Just when Lex looks at the battery icon of his cellphone getting low, a sound of launching some generator on the first floor quakes, and green lights on the floor lightens meter by meter, illuminating all the rooms.

"These are evoked by lights? What a horrible idea."

He decides to try his luck in the operation room first, hoping that there are something to trigger more lights.

The room is quite empty, only a huge operation table with all the green and red buttons, levers and quadrate pads. Everything looks very delicate but obsolete, and too bad none of the monitors is functioning either, all in hiatus. There are too many possibilities that ruffle Lex to find the right codes to start the buttons. Lex crosses his arms and ponders.

"hmmm."

His finger draws a beautiful line through the circuits below and stops at a piece of sticker note in red on the top of a diagram pad.

 

"A memo? Of what?"

It can be a trap by his father, he certainly won't be surprised if it is, or by anyone who wants to avoid anyone discovering the hidden treasure. Being aware of the consequences behind, he walks closer and tries to read the small texts on it under the dim lights. The text itself is like some sort of semiotics, an anagram or some Asian ancient language. Somehow it's so attracting that Lex just can't help it. The atmosphere becomes smothering as the beam turns closer and closer to the memo and quietly his right hand is voluntarily helping him to borrow more lights from his phone.

 

All of sudden, the floor shakes, something is triggered in the dark and the quake makes the mosaics on the floor scintillate. There is a huge jolt upstairs, the cadent vibration of the big fan are indicating that it's initiating. This provocation surely works for him, Lex becomes so angry as he knows he falls into this delicate trap that he father prepared when he was alive. Now he can't get upstairs, for his body will be swept up into the big fan and be killed. He's stuck here now. And this is only the beginning, worse things are coming, the door of the room starts to move like a ghost's hand pushing on the handle. His eyes fix on the handle, if he doesn't get out of this room now, he might be locked here forever. He saves the time for cursing his father and rushes to the door, when his feet jumps on the last mosaic before the door, the tile triggers another mechanism and a blow of the sounds of a shotgun fires behind him.

 

Now, the sound stops abruptly, like the silence before the storm. From the bottom of his heart, he mocks at himself. How so that he ends up like this? He definitely underestimated a thing, about how much his father knows his personality. His vision becomes blurry, his mind too. He knows one bullet pierced through his shoulder, through his flesh, and burst onto the door with his splattered blood. He expects more bullets, but surprisingly, there's no more coming at all. He feels his body being lifted. _Is this the ascension?_ He asks himself. Maybe the time for him has stopped, that can explain why he sees no more bullet and why he feels hot and cold at the same time.

"What's the secret..."

"Of what?"

It shocks Lex, that a voice actually answers him, that the voice is Clark Kent's. He looks above, and now the picture in his eyes solves all the questions he just had. Clark's arm is on him, trying to lift him up. Though his face looks not too happy, maybe he took all of the bullets, or maybe he just, swallowed them all.

Lex pants and clenches Clark's shoulder to keep the balance.

"I didn't expect you to come here."

"That's not very pleasant to hear for someone who just saved you." Clark comes closer to Lex's wounded shoulder and lifts his wrist, "You need medical help right now."

Just with one hand, Clark pulls out the handle on the door and kicks the door open. When he turns his body to walk towards the stairways, Lex's voice stops him.

"No, Clark, you don't understand."

"I do."

"This is not the time for arguments. My blood will stop bleeding very soon. I know. And I can't really climb at all, even a small movement is tough for me now."

He looks at the charring tattered cloths on Clark's back, taking a deep breath and swallowing before he can continue.

"But..."

"It's probably hard to understand for you, but it's impossible for me to move, OK? Even with the help from you."

"You have a plan already?"

"A safe room, over there."

Lex wants to speak more but his head is too dizzy to even stutter. He bets his face looks like a vampire right now, he turns around and walks to the safe room indicated in his mind, trying his best to avoid the looks of Clark. _How embarrassing!_ His muscles are screaming inside. Every step he walks, he has to lean against the wall to adjust his breath and have a rest to make another one. He hears a deep sigh from Clark and he laughs when Clark's warm palm is on his waist.

"Lex, it's ok, take your time. You have to be careful. You don't really look so well."

"I don't even know why you said that, like you really care."

"Why I'm at your back now?"

"Stop, I mean it."

Clark swallows and takes the words precisely, he stops at the room in front of him, it must be the room that Lex described as the Safe Room.

"We have arrived."

"Thank you, I can see that too."

Lex gets off Clark's arms and totters across the path and sits down on a chair. He takes a long gasp, and brings out a napkin from his pocket but Clark takes it away and looks at him distressfully. Lex has no idea what this man is going to do, his eyes are blurred by his own tears and blend Clark into the monochromatic background, for several seconds the room becomes silent and empty, nothing but his own warmness.

He's, gone? Lex closes his eyes and wonders if what happened was a dream.

"Don't sleep now, Lex, your temperature will be -"

_He's still there. Damn it._

"I know, Clark, I know."

 

Clark then takes Lex's arms and carries Lex's body onto a sofa. He takes out the napkin that he previously took away from Lex, the other hand with a brown color bottle, then he pops the cap of it, the air immediately is dispersed with the odor of sterilized water.

"What are you doing?" Lex lifts his eyebrow.

"I went out and bought some medical supplies. On my shoulder, here." He points at his own shoulder.

Lex seems to understand it without any problem, he lays his head on it with the help of Clark's hand while Clark slowly tilts his body closer to him. Lex gasps as the coldness dabs on his red and charred wounds. His body shudders against his will even when he tries his best to control it.

 

"How do you feel now?" Clark whispers by his ear.

"Like my skins are caressed by feathers."

"I bet it's much more painful than that."

"It's like thousands of needles stinging into my skin."

"I'm sorry, I'm not a nurse. And you don't want to go out, I figured that I have to do this."

"Why? Why you have to be so gentle to me all of sudden?"

"Why? Considering our relationship is -"

 

"The worst ever."

 

His voice, so faint that it caresses Clark's eardrums, yet so firm that it pierces Clark's heart. He collects the contorted mechanical fragments and aligns them on the table, taking a deep breath and bears the sense of pain inside while Lex sits next to him.

"The wounds are cleaned and sterilized. It still amazes me that it stops bleeding already."

"Thank you, Clark."

"Lex."

"Sorry?"

"Lex, I know that this might not be the best chance for me to say but, "

Lex manages to open his mouth again, "But you still want the reason why I'm in this deep cell? This is why you are here, because you followed me, right?"

"No." The invisible waves of desolation repeat them in the room, he knows he has to lower down his voice a bit, "I mean, yes, I have to admit. I did a lot of investigations about your past, especially the past with your father, your relationship in the family." His voice keeps lowering down, "Your childhood. I don't know why I had to do that, and why I couldn't stop digging them. Probably, " Clark titters, "Probably just like you in the old days. And I... Eh... Sorry, are you listening? Lex?"

Clark utters, for Lex has no signs of awareness of his confession. He can't continue his confession if Lex isn't listening at all. It makes all the works of bravery flow into the drain.

 

There's a new odor in the room, colorless, unpleasant but not strong enough to be detected by humans. And the cellphone of Lex starts to ring too. He takes a peek at it, some title ends with Trade Inc. He really feels sorry for Lex. Even in a dark place like this, people just won't give him a break. And the idea of seeing Lex resting and waking up in the morning in such a horrible condition disquiets him. He gently holds Lex's comatose body tighter which is much softer right now, and leaves this place together.

 

"Wish I know some healing magic."

 

-

 

Then Lex wakes up, he finds he's in a hospital, where he's lying on the bed with white sheets, and a man with a blurry silhouette sleeping on a chair next to him. Through one of the reflection of the vase on the desk he notices that it's Clark's. He takes the chance of this moment to enjoy Clark's face quietly, he doesn't know how, though he finds it amusing, that Clark wakes up. Maybe he detects the difference of my breaths, he takes a guess.

"I'm sorry I woke you up."

"How long have you stared at me?"

"Just, a few minutes, I guess. I'm sorry, couldn't resist it."

Lex's voice is sincere and fragile. Clark smiles at him wearily and looks at the clock on the wall.

"What time is it?"

"2AM." Clark looks at the clock above.

"Clark, go home. Everyone needs you."

"Maybe when you close your eyes, I'll go."

Lex laughs despite of the pain on the shoulder that almost makes him choke, eyes never leaving the flushed face of Clark.

"What are you going to do when I close my eyes? Sing a lullaby for me?"

"That's an idea. I can try though."

Lex's face brightens, he's sure that Clark is joking. But some parts in his heart, he's curious if he'll really sing a lullaby. So he blinks his eyes several times. But Clark doesn't sing.

"Ah, too bad, Clark. I know you are just shy."

"It's just because you didn't close your eyes."

"Ha!"

What an excuse. Lex curves a smile, then closes his eyes. And the voice of Clark whispering, like he's afraid to something.

 

_Go to sleep, go to sleep_

_Go to sleep little baby_

_When you wake, right away_

 

"My dear!"

Lex almost sits up and adjusts the pillow. He opens his eyes and giggles despite of the piercing pain.

"I'm not a three-year-old child!"

"That's the only lullaby I can remember." His face is in total red.

"I didn't have this part of images of Mrs. Kent, that she always sang the same song to you."

"Don't blame her, I liked this song when I was a kid."

"So did I, though."

"Lex, " Clark is about to say something, the words stuck in his throat, he utters, and stops, "Never mind."

"If you don't want to talk now it's ok."

"I should go now."

Clark stands up and walks to the door, stuck there, hands on the handle and turns his back on Lex.

"Clark. Thank you."

 _Clark_. It's the special way of pronunciation of Lex, always silvery and melodic to Clark's ears. Clark smiles, and he doesn't reveal that smile to Lex.

_Maybe next time, yes, next time I'll say it._

"Have a nice dream, Lex."

"You too."


End file.
